San Jose Indoor Short Track Championship

Santa Clara County Fairgrounds

Story by Karen Gould

Photos by Karen Gould/Checkered Flag Photography and
David N. Haughs

SAN JOSE, CA, MAR. 29, 2014

It
really was a packed house, as spectators filled the grandstands and
also stood between them to watch another bar-banging indoor short-track
event at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Promoted by Pete and Diane
Francini and their P&D Promotions team, the eighth annual San
Jose
Indoor event was held in a pavilion that was used back in the 1960s for
short-track racing, and it was once again outfitted with cyclone
fencing around a polished-concrete short track the same size as was
used back then.

Terry
Graham (98T) fought his way to a fourth-place finish in the Legends B
main event at the eighth annual San Jose Indoor extravaganza! Photo by
David N. Haughs

On Friday afternoon, open practice was held to
lay down rubber on the track to provide the tacky surface needed for
Saturday’s racing. Eighty entrants registered to ride nine classes on
Saturday. Some classes were split into A and B divisions to accommodate
all the riders. Event sponsors included Rod Lake, San Jose
Harley-Davidson, Motion Pro and Motor Café, among others. The major
Dash For Cash sponsors were Jerry Kennedy of Kennedy Trucking, Rod
Lake, John Gardner, Ralph Coulter of Matco Tools, and Ronal McRae. The
Open Pro Dash For Cash winner, Jared Mees, took home $2,561, which
included the generous donations from the fans in the stands. The 230cc
Pro-class winner, John Self, earned $200.

The Dash For Cash
riders – Jared Mees, Mikey Rush, Dominic Colindres and Ryan Foster –
were the winners of each of the four Pro heat races. Mees was the man
to beat in this five-lap dash, however, because as hard as the others
rode, no one else was able to accomplish that quest, and Mees took the
victory and the cash.

As
is the custom at most public sporting events, the Star-Spangled Banner
was performed, this time sung by Robert Bacosa Sr., who was clothed in
a special patriotic red-white-and-blue shirt.

The
riders’ parade and
event announcements followed.

The
riders’ parade.
Photo by Karen Gould

Practice
and qualifying
had been held earlier in the day, laying more rubber down on the track.
Heat
races included four riders, while the main events included a maximum of
10,
except for the Pro main, which included 12. The top two finishers of
four heat races
and two semis made the 12-rider Pro main event.

Dana
Perri had spent a
good amount of time picking himself and his bike up off the track
during
Friday’s practice, but on Saturday, when it counted, Perri rode
flawlessly in
the 10-rider Vintage main. He moved up from fourth position on lap
eight to
finish second at the end of lap 10. Jimmy Lewis and Roy Taboada
followed.

Dana
Perri (54) carried
the checkers twice: the first time following his win in the Legends A
main
event, and then again after his victory in the Vintage-class main
event. Photo
by David N. Haughs

Michael
Mannion, the
race coordinator for the Nor Cal Short Track Series, easily won the
230cc
Non-Pro class, getting the holeshot off the line and avoiding the chaos
that
was happening behind him. Todd Mello and Brian Garrahan finished second
and
third, respectively. Seventy-year-old Theroux finished fourth. Earlier
in the
evening, Theroux had tangled with another rider in the heat race,
causing
Theroux to face-plant and that race to be restarted.

Michael
Mannion (155G)
at the front of the restart of the 230cc Non-Pro contest. Photo by
Karen Gould

Michael
Mannion (155G)
also carried the checkered flag twice: He won both the 150cc main event
and the
230 Non-Pro main event. Photo by David N. Haughs

Motorcycle
champion
rider John Self has been trying to win the San Jose Indoor 230cc Pro
class for
a few years now. This year, he attained that goal. While the front
position
changed three times after a couple of restarts, the second position
changed four
times. By the 10th lap, four riders of the eight who had started had
been
lapped, and several had crashed but continued to race. Rod Lake and
“Boo Boo”
Bob Scally followed Mannion to the finish.

Rod
Lake (98) captured a
second-place finish in the 230cc Pro main event. Photo by David N.
Haughs

Robert
McDonnell and
Dana Perri have a long history of battling on the track. On this night,
their
Legends A battle also included seven others. Brothers Larry and Robert
Silva,
probably two of the smallest men racing in San Jose, are fast – but
they were
not fast enough to win this class on this night. Turn after
turn,
McDonnell battled with Larry Silva until lap five, when Silva was able
to get
under McDonnell for the pass. McDonnell was then in the position to try
to
chase down the leader, Perri. Running out of laps, McDonnell had to
settle for
a second-place finish, behind Perri. Larry Silva and Brad Spencer
finished
third and fourth, respectively.

Robert
McDonnell (1) is
on his way to a second-place finish in the Legends A main event. Photo
by David
N. Haughs

Robert
Silva and Larry
Silva finished one and two in the Vintage 250cc class, following a bold
pass on
the inside by Robert. Chris Rudy took third place in this one.

The
riders line up for
the start of the Vintage 250cc main event: (from left to right) John
LaRocca
(56), Dennis Cameron (31Z), Chris Rudy (87M), Robert Silva (24S), Larry
Silva
(7S). Photo by David N. Haughs

Robert
Silva (24S) carries the checkered flag after his win in the
Vintage 250cc main event. Photo by David N. Haughs

Rod
Lake took his spot
on the Brakeless-class starting line. The green light lit up, the flag
dropped,
and Lake was on his way to his first victory on his brakeless machine.
Rudy did
everything he could to catch Lake, coming up on his rear wheel on each
lap, but
he was unable to make the pass. Behind them was Carry Buck, who makes
racing
look easy; as smooth as glass, Buck looks like he’s coasting around the
track.
In reality, slow and smooth is the fast way around this concrete track.
Buck
finished third.

Earlier
in the program,
Lake had been honored with a new old-school-style helmet.

The
Run What You Brung
field included seasoned riders and some youngsters. David Bush took the
lead
from the start, with Evan Anders in the second spot. Anders, who is
only 17
years old, doesn’t yet have the experience to be smooth, but he is
fast.
Anthony Torres held on to third until the last lap, when he slid out,
giving
Robert Bush the chance he needed to round out the podium.

Evan
Anders (32) took second-place honors in the Run What You
Brung main event. Photo by Karen Gould

Twelve
riders lined up
in three rows for the Open Pro class. Heat-race winners and the winner
of the
fastest semi were on row one, with Mees on the pole. The race would be
like no
other this night.

The
Pro riders launch
off the line in their main event. Photo by Karen Gould

Steve
Bonsey (80) dives
into turn one, followed closely by Kyle Kolkman (98), in the Pro main
event.
Photo by David N. Haughs

Dominic
Colindres (66) leads Jared Mees (9) and Shawn Raggio (51Z)
into turn one in the Pro Main Event. Photo by David N. Haughs

Mees
got the holeshot.
Stevie Bonsey was hit coming out of one, stalling his bike. Dominic
Colindres
held second, behind Mees, through lap four, when Mikey Rush got around
him.
Colindres was hit by another rider; the other rider went down but
Colindres
held on, though he lost time. Ryan Foster, who still has double vision
after a
bad accident last season, took advantage of the mishap with Colindres,
taking
over the third spot, while Colindres fell back to sixth.

On
lap eight, Rush took
the lead from Mees when Mees was knocked into the infield, though Mees
managed
to keep the bike on two wheels and got back onto the track. Foster was
third.
JethroHalbert held fourth.

Lapping
slower riders,
Mees and Rush split, Foster continued in third, and JethroHalbert was
fourth.

On
lap 19, Halbert went
out in a crash with Bronson Bauman, while Foster got past Mees.

On
the final lap, Rush
was still in front. Mees got back around Foster. Brandon Bergen
finished
fourth, followed by Colindres. The other seven riders were no longer on
the
lead lap.

Mikey
Rush (54) topped
the tough Pro main. Photo by Karen Gould

Ryan
Foster (23Y) was
smooth and fast en route to placing third in the Pro main event. Photo
by David
N. Haughs

Brandon
Bergan (26) finished in fourth place in the Pro main
event. Photo by Karen Gould

Mikey
Rush, Jimmy Woods,
Tandra Rush and Ronnie Brown – along with some of their biggest fans.
Photo by
Karen Gould

In
addition to enjoying
the racing on the track, a whole section of spectators in the
grandstands was
celebrating the 60th birthday of number 80Y, Butch Cochran. Happy
birthday,
Butch!

Happy
Birthday, Butch! Photo by Karen Gould

During
the evening’s
racing, a young man collapsed in the stands and was attended to by the
track’s
EMTs. He was transported to the hospital, where it was discovered that
he
suffers from a heart condition that he was unaware of. At last report,
he was
doing well.

P&D
Promotions, Pete
and Diane, and the rest of the team look forward to the ninth annual
San Jose
Indoor event (the date will be announced soon), and they thank the
sponsors,
supporters, fans, volunteers and fairgrounds personnel for their part
in
another successful indoor event.